Auckland scientists discover new stem cell in human skin

Auckland scientists have discovered new cells with
stem cell properties in human skin, opening the door to a
range of new treatments for skin diseases and unhealed
wounds.

Auckland scientists have discovered new cells with
stem cell properties in human skin, opening the door to a
range of new treatments for skin diseases and unhealed
wounds.

The scientists, Professor Rod Dunbar, Dr Vaughan
Feisst, Dr Anna Brooks and Jenni Chen, are members of the
Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, and the
research was carried out in the School of Biological
Sciences at the University of Auckland.

They identified
mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) in the dermis, the
middle layer of skin, and discovered that these could turn
themselves into fat cells. This signals that they can
probably become other types of cells that repair and
regenerate tissue, like similar stem cells found in fat and
bone marrow.

“Nobody has identified these cells
before, so this opens the door to advances in both skin
healing and skin diseases,” says Professor Dunbar.
“Every time you find new cells with stem cell-like
properties, you know you’re onto something that could have
major implications.”

The team hopes that its
research, which started in 2011, could eventually lead to
treatments for conditions that severely thicken the skin
such as keloid scarring, in which tough, irregularly-shaped
scars grow and spread. The team also suspects loss of these
MPC cells may prevent proper healing, when, for example,
radiation treatment for cancer has damaged the skin.

The tissue used in the research came from men and women
who had undergone procedures such as liposuction,
abdominoplasty or breast reduction with Auckland surgeons Ms
Michelle Locke, Mr Jonathan Wheeler and Mr Julian Lofts. All
patients consented to their tissue being used for the
study.

The research involved sorting many millions
of cells – “like sorting mixed-up flocks of sheep into
their different breeds”, says Professor Dunbar – with a
laser-based technology called flow cytometry.

The
research is published this week as the cover article in the
March 2014 edition of the international journal Stem Cells
and Development.

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